In 1959, East African Records, a recording company in Kenya, created a band called the Jambo Boys. The company recruited four talented young Kenyan men to play the guitar, the string bass, the trumpet, and the drums. The following year, three members were added and every week the Jambo Boys would be heard on the Kenya Broadcasting Service radio.
Change came again to the group in 1962 when the Jambo Boys changed their name to Equator Sound Band. The new name, it seems, was to reflect their position as an independent group – talk about aligning with the early ‘60s ‘Jamhuri’ theme!
The Equator Sound Band consisted of Peter Tsotsi, Nashil Pichen, Sylvester Adhiambo, Gabriel Omolo, Daudi Kabaka, and Fadhili William. They gained momentum even as Kenya attained self-rule and eventually became a republic. They grew into one of the most important groups in the country through the ‘60s largely because of they consisted of instrumentalists and singers.
Yet, as time went by, the band dissolved and was formed again under the name The African Eagles, and later the Eagles Lupopo.
That said, they took the opportunity to use their talents to create music that aligned with current affairs. The Band sang about Argwings Kodhek, Kenya’s first lawyer and the first Member of Parliament for Gem in Siaya, in their song ‘Ng’ama Odak’, and later about the tragic death of Thomas Mboya in a song titled ‘Tom Iwewa’ (yaani Tom Left Us).
*
Of all the band members, Daudi Kabaka and Fadhili William are well known and remembered as two of Kenya’s most successful musicians in the 20th Century.
Daudi Kabaka’s journey into music is said to have been influenced by the likes of Leon Bukasa, Losta Abelo, Jean Bosco and even John Amutabi Nzeze who he shared staff quarters with when the two worked at the Norfolk Hotel.
Fadhili William on the other hand was part of the school choir while in primary school in Taita Taveta. His mother bought him his first guitar when he was 15 and he learned to play by watching other musicians. His love for music saw him tour Uganda and his first recording was in 1955, a few years before the Jambo Boys was formed.
*
One song that remains popular to date by the group is titled ‘Harambee Harambee’, sang by Daudi. In it he urges listeners to sing of freedom, to work towards building the Kenyan government – especially after proving the sceptics of our independence wrong. More so, he sang to inform on the disdain for discrimination and to advocate for unity: pillars of a new nation.
“Harambe, Harambee, Tuimbe pamoja.”
Listen to the song here – Harambee Harambee – Daudi Kabaka (Original) – YouTube